The Bad Ideas Garage

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The Bad Ideas Garage Garage:
2021 Mustang Mach E
2017 Mazda 3 GT
2008 Infiniti QX56
1998 Mercedes C43 Ute
1990 Subaru Justy
1990 Miata
1981 Subaru GL EJ22 Swap

10/18/2026

There’s nothing quite like spending time and money diagnosing a problem that could’ve been solved by checking a fuse. 😂

The HID headlight on my $1,600 Infiniti QX56 wasn’t working.

The bulb was physically broken. Easy fix, right?

Wrong.

Replaced the bulb. Still nothing.

Must be the ballast! Bought one.

Still nothing.

You know what I never bothered to check?

The gosh darn fuse. 🤦‍♂️

The most expensive part of this repair was my troubleshooting strategy.

Just another day at The Bad Ideas Garage.

10/16/2026

Over the summer, I decided to christen my $1600 Infiniti QX56 by using it as a tractor and pulling down a small tree.

Because that’s the best way to break in an SUV is to immediately give it a job it was never designed to do. 😂

This is also the unofficial kickoff to the Bad Ideas Garage overland series. We’ve got some big off-road plans coming together through a sponsorship deal, and I’m finally getting around to sharing the adventures here on Instagram.

Just kidding, we’re going to put a bunch of overlanding stuff on it, and just drive around town mostly. I think I’m doing this right!

10/13/2026

I’m still not sure if cutting through the body is a wise planned to fix the top of the fuel tank, but here we are. And just in case you wanted to know, a standard PVC pipe cutter will definitely cut the hard fuel line of a Mercedes-Benz. The more you know.

💫

10/08/2026

Remember when my C43 AMG was kinda leaking fuel out of the bottom of the tank and I said, “that probably doesn’t look good”? 😂

Well, good news: We found one leak.

Bad news, fuel is still flowing southward 😬

The drilled charcoal canister turned out to be only part of the story, the fuel-line situation was questionable at best, and now we found this monster.

My buddy Tim says he is going to drop the tank now to “fix it properly.” Wish us luck.

The C43 fuel saga is officially back.

10/03/2026

It clicks and the AC comes on at random. Fair territory for a $1600 auction rig 🤪

These are well known for having the hvac actuators to break. I know they’re the easy ones to access 😬

09/30/2026

Before I realized the fuel gauge on my $1,600 QX56 was basically just making suggestions, I decided to preemptively replace the crank position sensor.

Honestly, not the worst decision I made with this thing.

The CPS was cheap, easy to get to, and given that the Infiniti had already died on me once, it seemed like pretty reasonable preventative maintenance.

Did it actually cause the original problem?

Well, eventually I discovered just how little fuel was actually in the tank. 😬

Welcome to the Fauxerlander.

09/26/2026

At this point I had owned the $1,600 QX56 long enough to discover a very reassuring pattern:
Everything is broken, but none of it seems that bad. 😂
Blend door? Broken.
Exhaust? Rattling.
Fuel gauge? Questionable.
Tire pressure system? Apparently optional.
Power seat? Absolutely not.
But it starts, moves under its own power, and has air conditioning sometimes.

Welcome to the Fauxerlander.

09/24/2026

That moment when you go to pick up the car you just won at auction and you’re about to find out whether you should be celebrating, or regretting every decision that led you here. 😂

At first, the $1,600 QX56 actually seemed promising.

It started.
It moved.
We were feeling pretty good about this whole thing.

And then, well, the last few seconds of this video probably answer the question. 😬

Maybe it was regret.

Welcome to the Fauxerlander saga.

09/22/2026

Fast-talking salesman? Nah.

My financial mistakes come from a speed-talking auctioneer. 😂 Thanks Speed's Auto Auction

Between trying to follow the chant and convincing myself this was a great idea, this is how I ended up with a 2008 Infiniti QX56 for $1,600.

Sight unseen.

Big V8. Three rows. Great MPG 🤪

What could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to the Fauxerlander era. 😬

09/18/2026

The Ford Excursion is finally gone. 😂

This thing started as what seemed like a perfectly reasonable bad idea and somehow turned into months of broken parts, questionable wiring, dashboard archaeology, mystery problems, a mechanic getting involved, and way more content than I ever expected.

Was it a good idea?

Absolutely not.

Did I have fun?

…annoyingly, yes. 😂

Goodbye, Excursion. I’ll miss the V10.

I will not miss basically everything else.

The full ridiculous Excursion story is finally on YouTube - link in bio.

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Albany, OR
97322

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